End of the Road
by Ash to Dust
Summary: The Doctor has a choice... He didn’t want to loose her again. His hands were shaking now. Eight minutes and twenty seven seconds to go. Eight minutes to say everything he wanted to say. Not nearly enough time.
1. The Doctor and Rose

The End of the Road

The End of the Road

Twelve minutes, forty three seconds and counting. He counted down as he mused over his choices. A planet was at risk. He was at risk. Rose was at risk. Everything was at risk. He held the two wires in his hand. But which one to cut? The quiet ticking was distracting his thoughts. Would he even regenerate or would he end here? Three lives unused?

Mind you thirteen lives had always been a curse, maybe ten was a good number. Rather like a cat's nine only one more. He had known from the day he had been born that he was doomed to meet his end like the rest of them. No stopping to say goodbye or to exchange a couple of words between anyone in any way.

He had hit the road running but now he had reached the end and there was no where left to hide. The darkness crept up behind him and a bright light in front. Which way to turn? To go backwards or forwards? To choose eternal rest or eternal suffering?

He had never been good a making choices. Nine hundred and thirteen years of experience and he still didn't know what to do. Was that why he had been the renegade? The one that was always left out? Had it been because he couldn't choose or because he was different?

"Doctor?" Rose's sweet voice drifting through to the front of his mind. He shook his head to clear his thoughts as he stared as the controls in front of him. He knew which wire to cut but he couldn't remember. Black or white? Life or death? Go with your gut feeling his instinct cried but his mind remained fierce. What if your gut instinct's wrong?

"Sorry Rose, just thinking." the Doctor apologised hurriedly. He didn't want his voice to sound shaky but it was.

"It's ok, just take your time. It's not going to blow up for another ten minutes." Rose promised him quietly, her hand falling to lie on his shoulder, comforting him. She had always been there when he left lonely or had needed strength. She was always willing him on. In a way she had nicked the TARDIS's job. His constant companion and friend.

Although it went deeper than that. He had only just got her back. He didn't want to loose her again. His hands were shaking now. Eight minutes and twenty seven seconds to go. Eight minutes to say everything he wanted to say. Not nearly enough time.

"Rose, you know I lov…" He stopped as Rose's finger pressed against his lips.

"Don't say it Doctor. I already know." she told him quietly. She knelt beside him amidst the tangles of wires and circuits that she couldn't even start to understand the purpose of and hugged him. He gripped her tightly, burying his face in her hair letting a single tear fall.

Seven minutes, two seconds and counting. He let go of her and pulled his torn soul back together. No point going down looking like he was already broken. Once again two little wires took his attention, one black, one white. He reached out and took hold of them both. This was it then, the final decision that would either take their lives or save them. No regeneration this time. His body wouldn't be able to do it if it had been torn into so many pieces that you wouldn't be able to count them.

He glanced at the clock on the wall.

Six minutes ten seconds and counting. A Time Lord running out of time. Jack was gone, trying to stop the invasion from the inside. He might never see him again. The orphaned girl, Kyran, who had gone to help Martha and Donna look after the injured. His brilliant and beautiful Rose Tyler who had traveled across the void to find him again.

Five minutes thirty seconds and counting. He racked his brain going back almost nine hundred years, back to his time at the academy where he had learnt how to diffuse this type of bomb only to find that his memory had gone blank.

The desperation and despair must have shown in his eyes because he felt Rose tipping his chin up, forcing him to look into her eyes. They shone with belief, love and blind trust for everything he did. They all had shown that trust today and he knew that at least one would pay. There was no way they would all get out alive.

But who would it be? The brave, loyal and immortal Captain Jack Harkness who had come back again and again and proved that he was never going to be alone again. He had shown his to love again, had led him out of the darkness when he lost someone. Had taught him how to live.

Maybe it would be Donna Nobel. The stubborn human girl who was noble indeed just as her surname stated. The girl who had taken some of the burden to every decision he had made, in Pompeii, on the Odd planet, when he had met his own daughter again. She had helped him get through and although she teased and confused him she had become one of his closest friends.

Or maybe Martha Jones. A medical student with a wisp of adventure about her. Martha Jones who had always worked things out in the end. The women who had walked the Earth for a whole year to save him from the Master. Or perhaps Kyran, the teenage girl who had shown him courage from the moment they met. He knew there was something special about her and he had only known her for two hours and he might loose her again.

Then his precious Rose and himself as they sat beside a ticking bomb all set to blow them to smithereens. His lovely Rose who he loved and adored. To whom he had been planning to propose to in a few weeks time. But that opportunity might never come now. Two minutes and counting.

"What do I do Rose?" he asked, his voice trembling. She glanced and him and gave him a winning smile. She eyes glanced from his to the wires in him palm and back again.

"Go with your instinct. If it's wrong I can't blame you." Rose told him, taking his hand in her own. He nodded at her weakly; there was no turning back now. He had to make a decision or doom the planet and everyone on it.

"I love you Rose Tyler." the Doctor's voice cracked as he muttered the words.

"I love you too Doctor." he heard she whispered reply.

"If we ever get out of this Rose, will you marry me?" the Doctor held his breath, dreading the answer.

"Yes." Rose replied and the word gave him renewed strength. Three days awake and no food wouldn't drag him down. There were lives to save. Ten seconds and counting.

"Together?" he asked.

"Together." Rose agreed. They held the wire clippers, Rose's hands over his as they picked a wire and hoped that it was the right choice. Three days and it had come to this. They held the wire out and held the wire clippers over that one wire and cut it neatly in half, together.

Everything went black and they knew nothing more.

Fin.

Note: There may be a sequel…


	2. Jack and Kyran

The teleport was worse than Jack had been hoping for

End of the Road – Jack and Kyran

The teleport was worse than Jack had been hoping for. A teleport pulled you apart and put you back together again somewhere else. Only this time it had been slow and it had hurt. Not that he had come far. He hoped Kyran was alright, she was only fourteen and she didn't deserve to die yet.

"Jack?" Kyran's voice drifted across the empty room. So they had made it, both of them. They were on the ship in the sky.

"I'm ok. What about you?" Jack replied loudly, opening his eyes.

"I'm fine." Jack looked around only to find that it was pitch black.

"Is it me or are the lights off?"

"The lights are off." Kyran's simply reply echoed around the room making it sound like there was more than one of her in the room. A moment later and lights in the ceiling flickered on. Kyran was stood by a light switch, grinning.

Now that he could see he knew where to go. They had landed, as the Doctor had said, in the engine room. Everything was powered down because they were hovering. The Doctor had told him that to disable the weapons they had to get the engines online because they would cause a power drain.

Much to Jack's surprise Kyran was already working on the engines. She was typing away at one the computers. Maybe that was why the Doctor had chosen her to come with him. She knew what she was doing. Jack watched her for a few moments and wondered if she'd be able to keep them hidden.

_Perception filter in place_

The computer's electronic voice informed him what Kyran had been up to. Jack grinned and looked over to Kyran who was looking rather smug.

"You are a genius." Jack proclaimed. Kyran smiled and carried on. Jack hurried over to his own computer, the letters were translated by the TARDIS but it didn't make guessing the passwords any easier. He typed slowly, hoping that his gut instinct was along the right lines that day.

Kyran looked up about ten minutes later. She dived under the table, sorting through wires and different circuits, searching desperately for the right one. She knew she didn't have much time left. The Doctor's life was in her hands. If she didn't stop this ship from firing then the world below would turn to dust. The Time Lord had singled her out for the job.

She couldn't let him down, not now.

Jack in the meantime had successfully cracked through the passwords and firewalls and was digging into the mainframe looking for anything, instructions or a list of things to do or even how to make tea. But he couldn't find a thing. Even computers from the fifty-first century weren't this hard to crack into.

"Have you found anything?" Kyran called across the room. Her voice sounded so angelic, maybe that's what she was, a lonely guardian angel. Jack grinned at the idea and glanced at the clock.

Seven minutes to go until the world was destroyed.

Suddenly Kyran was behind him, twisting wires together on a circuit. Her eyes were a deep green, swirling with knowledge from all the ages. They were almost hypnotizing, showing madness and hope and fear all at once.

"Believe in yourself Jack, you'll find something." Kyran promised. Jack gained strength from her words of wisdom. "You can do anything if you try hard enough."

He began typing at the keyboard again. Then he saw it, so blatantly obvious, hidden in plain sight. He jumped in joy at the realisation of what he had just done. Kyran was right if you believe in yourself and you could find anything, even the instructions.

"Kyran I've found them!" Jack yelled in delight as he opened the file. Kyran ran over, she eyes reading it faster than any human should be able to do. Jack began to wonder if she even was human. Kyran ran and grabbed a load of wires again. This time she followed the instructions.

Two minutes left.

The engines were humming, almost on. Only two more connections remained. Both involved connecting live wires. They had to be joined at the same time. Jack couldn't reach both, and Kyran knew it. But what was her life compared to hundreds of others?

Lives like the Doctor and Rose. They quite obviously had there whole lives ahead of them to learn and love. It was what they did best. Kyran hoped he would propose to her soon, if he didn't now he never would. If he didn't do it now he may never get the chance because he may not exist anymore. Somewhere she knew something would go wrong.

She just hoped the Doctor had worked out her secret. Maybe he would forgive her for hiding her real identity in despair. But hadn't he done the same all that time ago on the planet with red grass and a burning orange sky? Hadn't he run and hidden when it all got too much? Had he realised just how similar they were?

Then there were the two ladies from another world. Donna and Martha who were bravely staying with the soldiers, down below in the fighting. They had more courage than Kyran would ever have because they were facing death every second but still blundering in. Kyran respected them.

Finally the man who had come with her. Captain Jack Harkness, the immortal man who had died more times than anyone could count. He was the bravest of them all because he never knew if he would come back. Yet he always did it anyway regardless of the consequences. A very brave man indeed.

Kyran felt Jack wrap his arms around her. She snuggled into his jacket and cried silently. She knew she had to do it but she didn't want to. She was only fourteen. Had a life ahead of her, or lives should she say. Maybe it would end now. She didn't know if it would work. She never had graduated from the academy.

Jack shared her thoughts, using what little telepathic skill he had and tried to sooth her thoughts. Only twenty seconds left now. He let go of her hand and they went to their respective sides of the room. Kyran wiping away tears and Jack pulling his mind back together. They were doing it for the Doctor.

"See you in hell." Kyran shouted across the groaning of the engines.

"Hope that's a promise!" Jack shouted back. They pushed the wires together at exactly the same moment. They both passed out long before they hit the floor, not knowing if they had succeeded.

Fin.


	3. Martha and Donna

Donna thought that the incident with the Ood had been bad. But the death rate was nothing compared to this. She sat among dying soldiers trying to give them hope. Martha was rushing around helping out. Her degree coming in handy as there were very few doctors anymore. Most of them had been killed.

Martha had wondered why Donna had been sent with her to start with. But she understood why now. Donna could talk for the nation and she was undoubtedly very good at comforting people. She was sat in the middle of the room talking to them. Keeping them alert, keeping them alive for that little bit longer.

Martha glanced up at the clock. Half and hour until either the bomb went off or the spaceship in the sky fired. It was unlikely that both the Doctor and Jack managed to sort out their problems in that amount of time. She pitied Kyran for having to cope with Jack and pitied Rose for having to face the fact that they might all be dead very soon.

"What are you doing here?" Jamie asked quietly. He had the best chance of survival, his injuries weren't that bad. Donna looked up in surprise. Martha was at the other end of the room, tending to those who had just been brought in.

"Well, we came here to help." Donna replied, unsure of her answer.

"Help?!" David laughed from the corner. He'd taken a shot to the stomach; he was going to fall first. In fact he even looked a bit like the Doctor. But that just made it worse. Not that it could get much worse anyway.

Twenty minutes.

Martha hated waiting. She occupied herself with tending to the wounded and hoped that they would get out of this one alive. Donna had no such distraction; she thought about her family and her friends and wondered if she would ever see them again.

Ten minutes.

How quickly the time seemed to pass as the two companions huddled together in the dark. It was night time now, the sun completely set.

"Do you think they can do it?" Donna asked quietly. It was the one question that Martha had been dreading.

"Of course they can." Her voice sounded as uncertain as her mind.

Two minutes.

They talked about their adventures, the good times and the bad, all the time watching the clock, ticking down to their fate. As it reached the last few seconds they braced themselves and each other for the fireworks they were sure were coming.

Nothing happened.

Hesitantly they untangled themselves from each other and stood on shaky legs and the realisation set in. They'd done it. Embracing and celebrating they waited for the Doctor to arrive to take them back to the Tardis. They waited for ten minutes and then they began to worry.

"What if something's happened to him?" Donna asked as they picked their way towards the building the Doctor and Rose had stayed behind in. Martha's silence and wide-eyed stared stopped her in her tracks as she saw the remains of the house.

The roof had fallen in, along with two of the walls, beneath the rubble and dust were their trapped friends. They sped up, racing across the bricks and concrete towards the building only to bump into Jack, who was heading the same way with Kyran slung across his shoulders.

"Is she alright?" Martha asked, instantly the medic. Jack nodded.

"She's alive, just a little shocked." They all turned back towards the building that they had just reached. In unison they scrambled over the remains of the walls towards the centre and looked for any sign of life.

"Rose?" Jack called and they fell silent as they heard a groan near him. He laid Kyran down and began to lift bricks off Rose's limp form. Once she was uncovered he pulled her out of the hole. She didn't look too bad, a few scratches but nothing serious.

"Where's the Doctor?" She asked instantly, looking around and spotting the one thing they hadn't noticed, a flash of tan amongst the grey and red of the house. Working together they managed to uncover the Doctor and Donna found herself backing away in shock.

Unlike Rose the Doctor hadn't been lucky. He'd clearly taken the full force of the falling building and now lay bruised and broken at their feet. Rose reacted differently, racing forwards and grabbing his hand, desperately calling his name. Martha went slower, checking his pulses and breathing.

When he opened his eyes with a small noise of protest they let out a collective sigh of relief. Rose pulled him into a gentle hug, being careful not to hurt him further.

"I thought I'd lost you." She whispered into his hair as he returned the embrace.

"I can't get rid of you." He replied simply as Jack leaned down to help him up.

"You've got to marry me now." Rose pointed out and Jack almost dropped the Doctor, who was leaning heavily against him as he attempted to get rid of the dizziness and pain.

"What!" Jack exclaimed staring between the pair. The Doctor smiled weakly.

"So I have." Then he collapsed and Jack only just caught him before his head smacked into the ground.

In the end, it hadn't been anything too serious. The concussion had only lasted a few hours, although it had annoyed the Doctor beyond belief and his well adapted anatomy had saved him from any serious injuries, apparently, well according to Jack after he'd amused himself with a scanner that had shown them the Doctor's skeleton.

He'd escaped with a few small fractures and a couple more bruises and cuts. The concussion had been caused by the wall falling from the top first, landing quite neatly on his head and effectively knocking him out, something, he told them, which wasn't easy to do.

But that didn't mean Rose was going to let him out of bed. In fact, she even went as far as joining him.

Well, they were engaged after all.


End file.
